San Diego not changing sidewalk policy despite large payout

San Diego won’t be updating its sidewalk repair policy any time soon despite concerns the city is vulnerable to more payouts like the $4.85 million given in March to a badly injured bicyclist.

A proposal to accelerate repairs by setting a 90-day deadline and shifting all repair costs to the city was delayed on Wednesday, because City Attorney Mara Elliott says the changes might actually put the city at higher risk of injury payouts.

The goal of shifting all costs to the city — and away from homeowners – was simplifying a confusing policy and avoiding the inaction that often comes when homeowners can’t afford their half of the repair bill.

But an Elliott memo released this week says relieving property owners of repair costs would be a windfall for their insurance companies at taxpayer expense. It says other cities have done exactly the opposite, shifting all repair responsibility to property owners.

A property owner’s share of a typical repair is $3,000, city officials said. But costs can be much higher in unusual cases and when a lawsuit is filed because of an injury.

The memo also criticizes the 90-day deadline, saying such a specific requirement would make the city vulnerable to lawsuits when it’s not met.

“Plaintiffs will point to the failure to adhere to the 90-day time frame and argue the city violated its own clear directive,” Elliott wrote.

Those concerns prompted the City Council’s Rules Committee on Wednesday to ask for an analysis of how much more the city would have owed in payouts without homeowners and their insurance companies to share the burden.

Total payouts by the city in sidewalk cases have been just over $10 million in the last five years, city officials said.

Committee members also said the city must significantly shrink a $38.8 million backlog of sidewalk repairs before considering new policies that would increase city liability.

“I just don’t think we want to put the cart before the horse on this and assume additional liability,” said Councilman Chris Ward, suggesting a multi-year plan to shrink that backlog would be a good first step.

City officials said spending significantly more money on sidewalk repairs has already reduced the backlog from $52.7 million since 2015, the first time San Diego ever conducted a comprehensive assessment of its 5,000 miles of public sidewalk.

Councilman Mark Kersey said he agrees with the goals of the proposed policy changes, which were crafted by the staff of Councilman David Alvarez. But Kersey said San Diego’s sidewalk problems are a money problem, not a policy problem.

“I don’t think taking on added liability, without a defined funding source, is going to solve the problem,” he said. “Granted, the policy is confusing and most people don’t understand it. But that’s not the reason our sidewalks aren’t getting repairs. It really is a lack of money.”

Alvarez, who has long lobbied for such policy changes, began pressing the issue more aggressively in March when the city paid nearly $5 million to Del Cerro resident Clifford Brown for a 2014 crash.

Brown tore spinal cord ligaments, lost several teeth and suffered a possible stroke when he and his bike were launched 28 feet by tree-damaged sidewalk that city officials had known about for months but didn’t repair.

The $4.85 million settlement, the largest in city history for a case involving sidewalks, was unusually big because of Brown’s medical bills, his need for future medical care and the possibility he won’t be able to work again.

The last three city settlements of sidewalk cases before Brown were for $75,000, $98,000 and $235,000.